GAME REPORT

Apoel Thrive As Early Drought Kills Teramo

Apoel Nicosia use a strong defensive effort in the first quarter as a launch pad to victory against Tercas Teramo in the first leg of the Eurocup Qualifying Round tie.

The Cypriot champions prevailed 77-63 and will now attempt to seal their progression to the Eurocup when the teams play again next week in Italy.

The key for the home side was the final 6:33 of the opening frame when they held Teramo without a point.

Trailing 8-4, Apoel scored the next 17 points for a 21-8 advantage.

After going to half-time with a 37-28 lead, with Apoel's Brandon Heath having scored 11 of his game-high 22 points and Lewis Hopkins 10 of his 17, the home side had to turn back a solid comeback effort by the visitors.

Teramo's Drake Diener capped a 6-0 run with a pair of free-throws to close the gap to 49-44 late in the third quarter but Heath scored down low before Gerben Van Dorpe buried a three-ball for his first points of the game to take the lead back to 10.

Teramo got no closer than eight points in the final quarter and ended up falling by 14, which means they have a mountain to climb when staging the second encounter between the sides next week in Italy.

Diener's 16 points led Teramo, although both he and Bobby Jones each had four turnovers.

The Italian outfit turned the ball over 19 times in all compared to just 13 for Apoel.

COACH QUOTES

Quotes Apoel vs. Tercas Teramo

Apoel Coach Christos Stylianidis:

"Congratulations to all the players because they all played a great game.

"14 points is nothing, we have a very difficlut game in Italy. This was just the first half.

"We are the champions of Cyprus wnd we will go to Italy to ahve a good game and try for the best."

Tercas Teramo Coach Andrea Capoblanco:

"We prepared well for the game, we had clear idea, knowing that we came to face a very good team. However, we couldn't manage to play as well as we wanted. We missed a lot of rebounds.